Obama Turns to Tourism in Latest Bid to Spur Economy

Sparking economic growth through tourism is the latest pitch from President Barack Obama, who’s ramping up his jobs message leading into November’s U.S. congressional elections. Obama today signed a document that will turn almost 500,000 acres of New Mexico wilderness into a protected national monument. U.S. tourism in March, the most recent month available, totaled $5.1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In unadjusted dollars, that was the second-highest monthly total on record. Focusing on tourism is “a small-scale kind of proposal, but it’s one that especially at this time in the summer that people will like to hear about,” Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University history professor, said in a telephone interview. “It’s not the kind of proposal that’s going to solve the sluggish economic growth that this country faces.”...more